July  13,  1899. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
31 
THE  IRIS. 
f  A  paper  written  for  the  Bournemouth  Gardeners’  Improvement  Society  at  their 
meeting  by  the  Rev.  John  B.  M.  Camm,  M.A.,  Burnham  Grange.] 
After  a  few  preliminary  remarks  Mr.  Camm  proceeded  : — First,  I 
would  say,  what  I  think  all  of  you  will  agree  with,  that  the  Iris  is  a 
■most  beautilu!  flower,  in  whose  composition  we  must  have  form,  and 
next  colour  and  then  fragrance,  and  lastly  siz  ■,  though  this  is  the  least 
important.  I  maintain  that  the  Iris  has  all  these.  First,  as  to  form. 
We  are,  I  believe,  accustomed  to  look  to  the  Orchids  as  perflctions  of 
form  in  the  stove;  wed,  the  Iris  approaches  nearer  to  the  Orchid  than 
auy  other  flower,  though  I  do  not  pretend  to  say  its  form  approaches 
in  regularity  of  petals  the  Rose,  the  Ddilia,  the  Lilium,  or  the 
Elanunculus.  But  taking  the  wonderfully  varied  shapes  of  the  Orchid 
•as  most  beautiful  specimens  of  form,  I  say  that  the  Iris  is  very  like  it, 
•and  for  regularity  of  lorm  scircely  any  flower  can  beat  L.Kaempferi. 
Next  as  to  colour,  can  anything  surpass  the  wonderful  dark  blue  or 
violet  of  the  Iris  barbata  or  ordinary  German  Iris  in  the  type  of  this 
family  ?  Then,  again,  its  colours  are  so  varied  ;  they  embrace  every 
•shade  of  blue,  of  ye. low,  and  of  mauve,  terminating  in  pure  white. 
As  to  fragrance,  it  is  most  exquisite.  1  know  no  flower  that  has 
a  more  typical  bouquet;  it  is  different  from  auything  else;  it  is  a 
fragrance  that  does  not  cloy  like  that  of  the  Lily  or  the  Narcissus 
j'Oeticus.  It  is,  except  the  Rose,  the  sweetest  and  most  refreshing 
perfume  of  any  flower. 
As  to  size,  we  have  in  Iris  barbata  and  Iris  Kaempferi  enormous 
flowers.  I  have  had  duplex  varieties  of  the  I.  Kaempferi  that  have 
been  10  inches  in  circumference,  it  not  more,  whilst,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  have  flowers  smaller  than  a  Crocus. 
There  is  another  advantage  which  the  flower  possesses,  that  is, 
length  of  blooming.  I  have  had  in  my  garden  blooms  of  I.  reticuiata, 
histrio  and  stvlosa,  before  Advent,  and  I  have  had,  and  hope  to  have 
-again,  Iris  Kaempferi  m  flower  at  midsummer  Then,  again,  it  is 
(■erectly  hardy;  most  of  the  varieties  will  do  anywhere,  m  any  soil 
and  in  any  position.  Lastly,  it  is  cheap  to  purchase. 
You  will,  I  think,  agree  with  me  then  when  I  say  that  the  Iris  is 
iR  beautiful  flower,  and  that  it  possesses  all  attributes  rendeting  it 
worthy  of  cultivation. 
In  the  description  of  the  flower  we  come  to  a  few  hard  words,  but 
■all  of  you  expect  that  when  a  flower  is  defined.  The  Iris  belongs  to  the 
natural  order  Iridaceas  of  the  class  Monocotyledons,  and  to  the  petaloid 
division  with  inferior  ovary  and  only  thne  stamens  (the  outer  series), 
lieing  thus  distinguished  from  the  Annryllis  family,  which  has  six 
seamens.  The  Irids  may  be  divided  into  Diaphaue,  Evansia,  and 
Niphion.  The  name  Iris  is  Irom  the  Greek  woid  “Eris” — discord; 
and  the  name  is  given  to  it  on  account  of  the  hues  of  the  flowers. 
Two  of  the  species  aie  British — viz.,  Iris  pseudacorus  or  Yellow 
Flag,  and  I.  foetidissima  or  Stinking  Iris,  or,  as  it  is  called  in  the 
vernacular,  the  Roast  Beef  Plant,  with  blue,  purple,  and  rarely  yellow 
flowers.  It  hears  this  elegant  name  from  the  fact  that  when  the 
leaves  are  crushed  they  give  out  a  most  unpleasant  smell.  The  Iris 
is  widely  distributed,  and  its  habitat  is  English  although  naturalised 
an  Ireland  and  Scotland. 
Poetry. 
'The  Iris  has  been  in  great  honour  among  the  poets,  for  they  have 
■often  used  the  word  in  order  to  pourtray  a  woman  tenderly  loved. 
Under  this  convenient  pseudonym  we  may  speak  a  little  freely  about 
lisve.  Boileau  thus  writes  : — 
Tantot,  conime  nne  abeille  ardente  a  son  ouvrage, 
Elle  s’en  va  de  fleurs  depouil  er  le  rivage, 
Elle  peint  les  festins,  les  dances  et  les  ria, 
Vaute  un  baiser  sur  les  levres  d’lris — 
Qui  mollement  lesiste  et,  par  un  doux  caprice 
Quelquefois  le  refuse  afin  qu’on  le  ravisse. 
Sometimes  like  a  bee  busy  over  his  work,  she  (Love)  goes  from  the  flowers 
to  despoil  the  bank.  She  describes  the  feasts,  the  dances,  and  the  laughter, 
and  boasts  of  a  Kiss  taken  fioin  the  lips  of  Iris,  who  gently  resists,  and  by  a 
sweet  caprice  sometimes  refuses  to  give  it,  in  order  that  he  may  steal  ir. 
Another  poet  whose  name  is  unknown  also  speaks  of  the  Iris  as  a 
woman  who  is  loved. 
Quand  Iris  prend  plaisir  a  boire 
Bacchus  c  oit  que  e’est  pour  sa  gloire, 
Mais  l’amour  a  tout  l’lionneur.  _ 
Car,  en  buvant,  le  vm  la  rend  si  belle 
Que  le  plus  altere  buveur 
S’enivre,  moins  de  sa  liqueur 
Qui  de  l’amour  qu’il  prend  pour  elle. 
This  may  be  translated  : — 
When  Iris  takes  pleasure  in  drinking,  Bacchus  (the  god  of  wine)  believes 
that  it  is  in  honour  of  him,  but  on  the  contrary  Lo»e  has  all  the  honour. 
Because  while  drinking,  the  wind  makes  her  so  beautiful,  that  the  most 
thirsty  drinker  becomes  intoxicated,  not  so  much  from  the  liquor  as  from  the 
love  which  he  feels  for  her. 
This,  of  course,  may  sound  to  some  persons  to  have  no  connection 
with  the  flower  of  which  I  write,  but  you  must  remember  that  Iris 
was,  in  the  Greek  mythology,  a  messenger  of  the  gods,  particularly 
of  Jupiter  and  Juno.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Thaumas  and  Electra. 
She  used  to  take  divine  messages  in  the  air  and  on  dry  land,  even  in 
the  depths  of  the  s»n.  She  prepared  the  beds  of  Jupiter,  and  the 
toilette  and  bath  ol  Juno;  and  she  did  even  greater  services,  for  she 
carried  off  Juno  when  wounded  from  under  the  walls  of  Troy.  Juno 
changed  her  into  the  rainbow.  She  is  tepresented  on  antique  vases  as 
clothed  in  a  long  tunic,  her  hair  supported  by  a  band,  and  with  wings 
on  her  shoulders,  and  sometimes  attached  to  her  legs.  As  I  have  already- 
said,  the  name  “  Iris  '*  is  derived  from  the  Greek  word  eris,  discord— 
as  her  messages  generally  caused  discord,  while  Mercury’s  brought 
peace.  Such  was  the  goddess  lrom  whom  the  lovely  flower  I  am 
describing  takes  its  name. 
As  a  great  deal  of  what  follows  will  be  a  list  of  names  and  divisions 
of  this  flower,  I  think  that  the  above  description  may  not  he  ungrateful. 
In  all  I  write  I  try  to  combine  the  dulce  with  the  utile — which  is 
agreeable  with  what  is  useful.  It  is  said  that  in  Bournemouth  there 
Fig.  8.— Calceolarias  :  Past  and  Present. 
(g,  C.  arachnoid*,'  1823.  B,  Calceolaria,  good  variety  of  the  year  1841. 
C,  Calceolaria,  improved  type.) 
lives  a  very  rich  gentleman,  who  has  made  a  huge  fortune  in  silvering 
over  jiids — putting  a  covering  of  silver  over  a  bitter  p  11,  so  that  the 
medicine  is  not  tasted  by  the  palate.  I  have  endeavoured  to  imitate 
him  in  this  article,  for  now  we  come  to  statistics. 
History. 
I  have  spoken  of  the  flower  in  connection  with  poetry,  I  would  now 
speak  of  it  in  connection  with  history.  The  Iris  is  a  very  historical 
flower.  It  is  known  as  Fleur  de  Lis,  Fleur  de  Luce,  and  perhaps  the 
Fleur  de  Louis  or  Flower  of  Louis.  Louis  VII.,  King  of  France, 
adopted  the  Iris  as  the  emblem  of  bis  shield  during  the  Crusades,  and 
strewed  it  on  the  mantle  of  his  sen  when  consecrated  at  Rheims 
Cathedral.  After  the  battle  of  Crecy,  it  was  united  wjth  the  arms  of 
England,  and  lemained  so  until,  on  the  union  with  Ireland,  the 
Shamrock  took  its  place.  But  more  than  this,  from  the  earliest  times, 
the  Iris  was  the  symbol  of  power  in  Eastern  countries. 
A  “Fleur  do  Lys,”  exactly  like  that  of  the  French  Monarchy,  was 
found  surmounting  the  sceptre  on  a  monument  of  the  highest  antiquity 
at  Dendera,  in  the  heart  of  Egypt.  The  great  historian,  Herodotus, 
relates  that  the  kings  of  Babylon  formerly  bore  it  at  the  extremity  of 
their  sceptres.  Montfauoon  also  speaks  of  the  sceptre  of  David,  a 
representation  of  which  was  found  in  a  miniature  oi  a  tenth  century 
manuscript.  This  is  surmounted  by  an  Iris. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  flower  on  which  I  speak  is  a  most 
important  one  from  an  historical  and  from  a  poetical  point  of  view, 
and  also  from  its  great  antiquity. 
(To  be  continued.) 
